New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by DangerousThing

To think that Flashcrowd was written before the true rise of social media.

I think that if the story were written today, the crowds would be much worse.

Was that the one where the only thing on TV was talk shows because with VCRs you can watch what you want when you want? Or am I thinking of some other LN story?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Was that the one where the only thing on TV was talk shows because with VCRs you can watch what you want when you want? Or am I thinking of some other LN story?

It's the one with Teleporter booths.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

Alicorn

The poisons of the Final Wars have long brutalized the lives of the few survivors. Children are few and sickly, many sterile. Crops are few, herds fare no better than children. Forests, lakes, rivers, the sea itself, all are poisoned.

But in the far land of Californ, in a school near the city of Frisco, they've created living things that clean the land and water. A scholar called them "Bioremedial Organisms."

We are asking you to go to this far Western city and bring us back these healing creatures.

Basically, the apocalyptic war wasn't nuclear or biological, it was chemical. The PCs are weak and sickly, smart enough, but they still need to cross a continent.

Most of any land is sparsely covered with weeds, rotting vegetation has accelerated Climate Change. Disease and famine make the world a wasteland. Both cannibalism and starvation are threats to the PCs.

Some of the Bioremidial Organisms (or Alicorns if you like.)

Blue Daisies: Actually, in areas devoid of toxin, these Daisies look normal. However, if there is any Final War Toxin in the soil or water the Daisy is in contact with, the flower petals turn blue and the Daisy's eye turns reddish. If the toxin is at a dangerous level the flower petals will be an intense neon blue and the Daisy's eye will be blood red.



More later I must go now.

[DaltonS]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Blue Daisies: Actually, in areas devoid of toxin, these Daisies look normal. However, if there is any Final War Toxin in the soil or water the Daisy is in contact with, the flower petals turn blue and the Daisy's eye turns reddish. If the toxin is at a dangerous level the flower petals will be an intense neon blue and the Daisy's eye will be blood red.

Do these plants process the toxins into something harmless and revert to their "normal" state? How do they propagate? I assume that natural pollinators would be as badly effected by this ecological disaster as everything else so new "bio-remedial" ones would be needed. Of course designing a new eco-system is tricky and there are bound to be problems along the way. Such as a new crop species being non-toxic and exceptionally nutritious but also addictive and requiring a special fertilizer (containing the toxins that had been "remediated") to grow properly. ];-)

Dalton “who is sure the 'fertilizer' would be cheap, right?” Spence

[AlexanderHowl]

Apidae

Apidae is a phenomenally dangerous world where the local insects from the clade Apidae (over 5,000 species of bees) will detect and attack without exception anyone who has traveled to Apidae through the use of hyperspace technology. In extreme cases, billions of members of Apidae will form psionic gestalts that manifest psychokinetic abilities capable of annihilating armored hyperspace devices in GSO.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by DaltonS

Do these plants process the toxins into something harmless and revert to their "normal" state?

Yes, they turn the Final War Toxin into harmless substrates. But they are far from being the most efficient at it. They are mainly warning signs.

How do they propagate?

Both as normal Daisies and by the roots extending out and forming new flowering bodies.

I assume that natural pollinators would be as badly affected by this ecological disaster as everything else so new "bio-remedial" ones would be needed.

Yes and yes. Modified Bees are a type of Alicorn (Bioremedial Organism) that's spread further than the PCs are aware. But as with the very few surviving natural bees, no sane person would eat their honey either.

Of course designing a new eco-system is tricky and there are bound to be problems along the way.

Very much so.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Most of any land is sparsely covered with weeds, rotting vegetation has accelerated Climate Change. Disease and famine make the world a wasteland. Both cannibalism and starvation are threats to the PCs.

Some of the Bioremidial Organisms (or Alicorns if you like.)

Blue Daisies: Actually, in areas devoid of toxin, these Daisies look normal. However, if there is any Final War Toxin in the soil or water the Daisy is in contact with, the flower petals turn blue and the Daisy's eye turns reddish. If the toxin is at a dangerous level the flower petals will be an intense neon blue and the Daisy's eye will be blood red.



More later I must go now.

It's later...

Clearer Carp: These "Trash Fish" as fishermen call them, are tough and adaptable. Although the flesh of these fish absorbs and holds large amounts of the Final War Toxin. However, their genetically modified livers efficiently break down the Final War Toxin into harmless substrates with amazing efficiency. Lakes with populations of these carp soon become much cleaner (given how much of the Final War Toxin is out there, truly clean lakes are decades away). The Cleaner Carp have pale yellow spots on their bellies that turn dark red in high toxin waters. The Cleaner Carp are genetically designed to adjust their sex at need. Basically, the dominant fish is male and the others are female. The Cleaner Carp can switch their sex several times a season.

Sunny Bees:These non-aggressive honeybees with nearly painless stings are amazing at gathering pollen and nectar and at pollination. They aren't actually all that good at survival if they have to deal with anything like normal insect populations. But, and this is a design feature, they're supposed to go extinct when they are no longer needed.

Lavender Pearl Oysters:These thoroughly inedible oysters are designed to clean coastal waters. The Pearls are rarely seen, basically, prolonged exposure to water with no Final War Toxin causes these oysters to destroy themselves with vast numbers of weirdly colored pearls. So far these highly efficient cleaners haven't experienced much clean seawater. Still, they are creating vast amounts of clean seawater.

More later...

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

The Final Wars have left the solar system dead and that vast sterility patrolled by killer drones run by implacable bitter AIs. Only a fool would even risk communicating with Earth's star system less these soulless murderers come to hunt you.

We fled before the end and we know we weren't the only ones. Although FTL travel is known to be possible it requires materials that we haven't even begun to figure out how to make. Still, we can travel at .1 of C for decades.

We can both rebuild and find the others.



This is a Transhuman Stars setting. The PCs would be rebuilding civilization in a star system which might not allow a terraformable world. Assume that different cultures that refuse to respect each other are at odds with each other.

Once you've got the starter star system really on edge, have the Americans show up in their new FTL starship. That will totally scramble the local politics.

[SolemnGolem]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

This is a Transhuman Stars setting. The PCs would be rebuilding civilization in a star system which might not allow a terraformable world. Assume that different cultures that refuse to respect each other are at odds with each other.

Once you've got the starter star system really on edge, have the Americans show up in their new FTL starship. That will totally scramble the local politics.

Interesting, it gives me echoes of the Hejira from Dan Simmons' Hyperion series, including the mid-novel vignette "Siri's War". If near-FTL travel is possible, could it be that the folks traveling between the star systems age much more slowly compared to those remaining at rest?

The über powered Americans in their invincible FTL ship also feels like an excellent treatment of the Hegemony FORCE starship fleet that largely eradicated Covenant Maui'i in Hyperion's sad tale.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by SolemnGolem

Interesting, it gives me echoes of the Hejira from Dan Simmons' Hyperion series, including the mid-novel vignette "Siri's War".

I haven't read that book but thank-you.

If near-FTL travel is possible, could it be that the folks traveling between the star systems age much more slowly compared to those remaining at rest?

From what I've read 0.1 C isn't fast enough for noticeable time dilation. Measurable, yes, noticeable, no.

The über powered Americans in their invincible FTL ship also feels like an excellent treatment of the Hegemony FORCE starship fleet that largely eradicated Covenant Maui'i in Hyperion's sad tale.

I see these Americans as less uber-powerful and more grandiose and, in their eyes, justly proud. Note: When others try to cut them down to size these Americans will shun them, thus cutting them out of the new galactic society. Take the stereotypes both of Post-WWII America and ST:OS Starfleet, add in both a willingness to listen to honest criticism and an equal willingness to ditch fools who simply blather on.